


Birthday Surprises

by gardenoftacos



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: And like, Gen, Just pure friendship, i just love this group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 14:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17768558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardenoftacos/pseuds/gardenoftacos
Summary: Zack and Ivy try to find out when Carmen's birthday is.Only... She doesn't have one?





	Birthday Surprises

“Hey Carmen! When did you say your birthday was again?” Zack hollered from across yet another hotel room, accent as thick as ever from where he and Ivy were fighting over the last slice of fresh Mango that had been brought to them earlier by room service. 

This time they were in Manila, Philippines, trying to stop V.I.L.E. from stealing the Spoliarium, a famous painting by Juan Luna, from the National Museum of Fine Arts and replacing it with a fake. All part of yet another caper to steal and replace famous pieces of art from around the world. Could they think outside the box sometimes maybe?

This time though, maybe Carmen would actually take the time to stop and look around the city and explore the world like she’d been dying to since she was a child on V.I.L.E. island. She would have actually liked to see the painting in the museum as a guest instead of a thief stealing it… to keep it safe, of course.

“I didn’t.” She said, as she tapped away at her keyboard, eyes focused on the files and articles being sent her way by Player.

A grunt, a scuffle, and then the sound of an overturned chair filled the room as the two redheads fought it out.

“Well when is it then?” Ivy said after a few minutes with her mouth full, a victorious smirk on her face as she chewed the fresh fruit, juice dripping down the side of her face. Zack’s “Hey no fair!” went ignored by the two ladies.

“Well… I don’t know when my birthday is.” Carmen didn’t look up from her laptop, but she knew that the siblings were giving her identical looks of horror.

She knew of course that outside of her tiny world, birthdays were celebrated with enthusiasm by friends and loved ones of the celebrants, with cake and balloons, noodles and red clothing, and so many other different culturally significant activities. She hadn’t thought much about it since she left the island of course, focusing on the greater goal that she had. Birthdays, like exploring the world, could come later.

“How could you not know when your birthday is though?!” exclaimed Zack

Carmen looked up and smiled at him indulgently. “Well it’s not as if they left me on the side of the road with a complete set of records, birth certificate included. And it had never seemed to matter since we never celebrated it on the island. It wasn’t important.”

She took a sip of the tea at her side before standing up and heading for the closet. “Don’t worry about it, guys. It’s nothing, really.”

Her signature red hat and coat were waiting for her and she focused on getting ready for their task, ignoring the looks of pity the siblings were giving her.

“We need to leave if we want to stay one step ahead of V.I.L.E.” Carmen tightened her coat around her and put her hat on, sparing her reflection a few seconds before leaving the room in a flash of red. Not looking back, she missed the look shared between Zack and Ivy.

–

Carmen had gone out for a walk alone, a breather before they had to pack up and leave for the next mission. They had managed to successfully foil V.I.L.E.’s attempt at stealing the painting and had decided to stay the night before flying the next day.. Zack and Ivy had gone off to explore what the city had to offer while Carmen had encouraged them to go on without her.

Returning to their room, she paused at the entrance as the door closed behind her. The room was dark which was strange as she didn’t recall closing the curtains before she had left. Maybe the siblings had forgotten something and come back? Maybe…

Sensing a presence to her left, Carmen’s body moved on her own, reflexes and muscle memory caused her to spin and attack, and was about to launch a kick before the lights turned on.

She found her foot just inches away from Zack’s stunned face.

“Happy birthday!” came Ivy’s voice as she popped up behind Zack, and Carmen only then noticed that the two of them were wearing paper party hats, the kind you could get from any party or event supply store. Zack gave a nervous giggle before stepping around her foot - still in the air next to his face.

She recovered from her shock and put her foot down before turning to look around the suites’ living room.

The siblings had decorated it as best as they could, with triangle bunting cut out of newspapers stuck on the wall, different coloured balloons on the floor, and streamers of coloured paper glued to the ceiling. A tub of ice cream, several different cupcakes and donuts, and boxes of pizza were on the table as well as a laptop with its very own party hat lopsidedly covering one corner of the screen (Player needed a hat too, obviously.).

She turned back towards the siblings when they started to sing happy birthday to her, accompanied by Player’s off-tune version on the laptop speaker. Ivy handed her a small slice of chocolate cake with a lit candle stuck haphazardly on top.

Carmen ignored the wax that dripped slowly on the chocolate icing, closed her eyes as she made a wish, and blew it out. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find that they were wet.

“I don’t know what to say, guys. I never expected any of this. I..” She broke off at a loss for words. When she had invited the two to join her on her heists, she had never expected to earn their friendship. She had been alone and lonely and it had seemed like a good idea at the time to have a couple more people on her side. Thinking back on everything now, it was one of the best decisions she had ever made.

Ivy smiled and shrugged before placing the slice of cake on the table to give her a huge bear hug with Zack joining in right away.

“Hey Carm, don’t get all emotional on us now! We wouldn’t know how to react!” Zack said, arms wrapped tight around the two girls before releasing them. “Now I don’t know about you two, but I could really go for a cupcake. Or maybe pizza first. Or both. Both sound good.”

Carmen laughed as Ivy rolled her eyes and shoved Zack over in an attempt to reach the food laden table first.

This may be her first birthday celebration (and she wasn’t even sure what the date was - she’d look at the calendar later), but she knew then and there that it was the best she would ever have.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything since 2015 and I'm all out of practice and my writing is super rough and just gross. But hi thanks for reading anyway!
> 
> Follow me on tumblr weeee @ gardenoftacos


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